being done poure aqua stygia or aqua regia or aqua fortis into those places where by engraving you have taken away the wax with your pencil thus let the stone rest for a day and the aqua stygia by eating into the stone will engrave that part of the stone from whence the wax was taken away and the rest of the gemme which is covered with the wax vvill remain vvhole and untoucht Faculties of Gemms SOme there are that do deny gemms the proper grace of their naturall faculties but surely this possession doth dispossesse them of their intellectuall guide of reason or else by the onely elementary constitution they would have been informed that such pure matter could not be without their vertues nor these forms more then others want their vires since that there are virtuall forms reason by experience every day confirmed doth convince us Nor this elementary union sympathizingly concording to beget a glorious beauty be without its quinta qualitas the result of the union of its elements wonderfully altered and diversly inter se mixtorum Surely men of such opinions never dream'd of gratia parvis but we know that God hath given every thing its proper grace for Inest sua gratia parvis Inest sua gloria gemmis and Inest sua singulis propria virtus Now as these who do denie the elements inter se mixtis their peculiar qualities and their essence or quinta qualitas which doth arise of their coalescencie as the result of the union of their matter do à scopo nimis aberrare so on the other side those do keep at no lesse a distance from the truth who do attribute to gemms that are naturall things powers supernaturall or above nature as will appear in what follows Effects attributed to pretious stones which their nature is not capable of effecting SOme do impute such vires to produce such effects to them as these creatures cannot possibly be capable of It is impossible that by the power of the naturall faculties or elementary qualities of gemms or pretious stones any man should be made to walk or be invisible though Albertus Magnus and other Lapidists do attribute such a faculty as this to the stone called Opthalmius Opthalmius lapis And as impossible it is that any stone should be so prevalent by the power of any vertues which naturally it can be capable of as to obscure the Sunne or darken his beams which facultie Plinie and others do attribute to the Heliotrope of which they say Heliotrope that if you put it into water in a vessel opposed to the Sunne it will mutare fulgorem solis accedentem percussu sanguineo and for this cause they call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is solis versionem But such have been the errours of the great searchers out of the secrets of nature as that they have attributed to inanimate creatures which are of the lowest orders of all natures productions powers supernaturall and vires which their natures are not capable of knowing and therefore they cannot possibly produce such effects as they report of them Such as are the making of men eloquent Extraordinary effects of gemms or making of men poore or the making of men acceptable or to be favoured or rich or fortunate or safe or secure Yet are the strange transportations of some men even at this day such as that they will not let to affirm these things to be true in their experience affirming that to be done by the naturall faculties of precious stones in making men either favoured or accepted or to be invisible or to be suddenly enricht which being contrary to the workings of God with men must necessarily be the work of the devil to delude and ensnare and enthrall men by Strange things are reported of Lapidists concerning the vertues of gemms and of their strange changes upon severall occasions Of the Diamond which the high priest wore in the breast-plate of Judgement upon the Ephod when he went into the sanctum Sanctorum it is said That if the Jews had sinned against God the Diamond would turn black Of an Emerauld Lapidists say That it doth discover adultery and that where it accidentally meeteth with such persons it doth suffer very strange changes and alterations Of the Turkey-stone they say That it doth participate with all its masters dangers perils and evils and that it doth receive his injuries and the harm of his blows falls and contusions into it self But those that think that any gemms or pretious stones are sensible of injuries or affected with strange alterations by a naturall discord which is betwixt them and unclean persons think much amisse for all gemms are materiall mixt naturall things and therefore by their own proper qualities they can effect nothing else but naturall things now to the effecting of all naturall things whether the thing be effected by a gemm or by any other thing it is necessary that there should be a connexion or some kind of knitting of its cause with the effect but in the discovering of sinne by gemms or in the gemms receiving its masters injuries into it self there can be no such probable connexion of the cause with the effect found therefore such admirable effects cannot truly be said to be the naturall effects of gemms Neverthelesse though gemms as being materiall mixt bodies cannot by their own proper power and faculties produce such admirable and supernaturall things as that we may say that they are truly and absolutely causes of such effects yet they may be said to be continent causes if we grant that which some affirm namely that oft-times they are the habitacles of daemones and intelligences which Johannes Langius in his epistles calleth syderum orbium motores and if we grant that gemms are habitacles for these we need not doubt but these are those occult properties which do produce so many strange effects as are imputed either to the interposition wearing or carrying of gemms to the deluding of the senses of men in the right understanding of the truth of the nature of gemms and pretious stones Langius his opinion of the generating of gemms THese intelligences 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or motores orbium inhabiting under this concave orb of the Moon and cooperating aethereo syderum calore spiritu do saith Johannes Langius epistolis medicinalibus without a semen both by sea and land produce various effigies in rocks in Conchyliis and likewise they do oft in their sporting frolicks transform by the power of their own elaborations sticks boughs trees and plants into stones and by a like admired Metamorphosis they do procreate many strange births some of them to be admired for their originall others for their shape These are those that do possesse men with the strange effects of gemms as if they were the true causes of such effects when indeed they are the unespyed and secret productions of the hidden workings of these intelligences Though Cardan
Albertus Rueus and others do affirm that gemms are the causes of such effects yet their affirmation in this kind must not be received as truth because there is no kind of affinity similitude or proportion at all betwixt this kind of complexion or betwixt this cause and this effect for the effects of this kind are oft times more perfect then the cause And yet the axiome is perfectionem effectûs contineri in causa But it cannot truly be so spoken of gemms and pretious stones the effects of which by Lapidists are said to be Extraordinary effects of gemms the making of men rich and eloquent to preserve men from thunder and lightning from plagues and diseases to move dreams to procure sleep to foretell things to come to make men wise to strengthen memory to procure honours to hinder fascinations and witchcrafts to hinder slothfulnesse to put courage into men to keep men chaste to increase friendship to hinder difference and dissention and to make men invisible as is feigned by the Poet concerning Gyges ring and affirmed by Albertus and others concerning the ophthalmius lapis and many other strange things there are affirmed of them and ascribed to them which are contrary to the nature of gemms and which they as they are materiall mixt inanimate bodies neither know nor can effect by the proprieties and faculties of their own constitutions because they being naturall causes can produce none other but naturall effects such as are all the ordinary effects of gemms that is such effects as flow from their elementary matter from their temper form and essence such as are the operations of hot and cold and of all the first qualities and all such accidents as do arise from the commixtion of the first qualities such as are hardnesse heavinesse thicknesse colour and tast These all are the naturall faculties of gemms and these are the known effects of the union of their matter and of the operation of the first qualities one upon another Supernaturall effects of stones THere may no doubt supernaturall effects be wrought by gemms and stones but not such as can properly be said to be the effects of gemms or stones or of which gemms or stones can be truly and absolutely said to be the causes but onely instrumentall causes Such effects as these are wrought either by the power of God or of the devil What the strange effects wrought by stones in the power of Satan are will appeare by the survey of the extraordinary effects of gemms and pretious stones before mentioned The supernaturall effects of stones ascribed to God in holy writ are such as the Lord God produced in the wildernesse to manifest his power and to make his name great in the sight of his people Israel such was his bringing water out of the rock by the stroke of Moses rod upon it Deut. 32.13 The rock here was the instrument by which this supernaturall effect was wrought but not the cause of the effect of the flowing forth of water for the quenching of the thirst of Israel for in truth none other effectuall efficient cause there was of this effect but onely Gods holy Spirit working in and by the rock as by its instrument conduit or emissary that so it might wonderfully send forth waters of its own springing up as from a fountain to refresh the drought of Israel in a dry and barren wildernesse That we may not be mistaken in the effects of creatures it is necessary that these things should be known 1. VVHat are the causes of effects 2. How to judge of these causes whether they be true or false whether they be supernaturall or naturall causes divine or diabolick causes 3. How many kinds of effects from all causes may be found in the whole Universe The causes of all effects I. The causes of all effects are either supernaturall or naturall they are such causes as are either truly and absolutely causes or causes falsly so called or else they are manifest divine causes or diabolick seeming divine causes all which may be comprehended under the two first heads of supernaturall and naturall causes II. That we may judge of these causes whether they be supernaturall or naturall divine or diabolick true or false these following rules must be observed Rules Supernaturall causes they may be taken to be 1. If it be manifest that the effect doth never follow the cause or that it followeth it by accident 2. If wise understanding judicious men who have the use and experience of things do upon the supposition of ordinary effects deny that which is thought to be the cause to be truly the cause 3. If by comparing the thing with other causes which are known the manner of applying of it be very different involved and intricate 4. If the thing have no affinity with its effect as here when Arbor dicitur producere bovem 5. If the cause doth produce the effect separatim and without any conjunction of other causes which have in them a power of producing 6. If the cause doth produce an effect to some end to which properly the effect doth not belong 7. If such an effect from such a cause do never again happen notwithstanding the remaining or existing of some or of all the same conditions Rules è regione Naturall causes they are taken to be 1. If it be manifest that the effect doth really follow the cause and not by accident 2. If prudent pious men do upon the suppositions of ordinary effects according to their experience in the use of things not deny that which is taken to be the cause to be truly the cause 3. If the thing effected by such a cause being compared with known causes doth not in its manner of applying differ or is not involved or intricate 4. If the cause have affinity with its effect that is if it do produce such an effect as is meet for such a cause to produce 5. If the cause doth produce the effect not separatim but by the conjunction of other ordinary causes which are endued with power and do usually joyn together for the producing of such or such an effect 6. If the cause doth produce an effect for the same end to which properly the effect doth belong 7. If that the same conditions existing the same cause doth produce the same effects Whether the cause be Divine or Diabolick true or false it will thus appear WHat ever things there are that are truly called natural if they undergo or suffer an impulsion into various and divers parts indeterminately and confusedly they cannot be said to be otherwise moved then by an extrinsick power of impulsion which power if it be not open and manifest must of necessitie have an occult and secret spirituall mover which can be none other but either God or the devil either good or bad angels Upon these grounds it may be concluded that the motion of the ring in which the Turkey-stone is set by the pulsation of which it
being hung by a thread perpendicularly in the midst of a glasse against the sides of the glasse the houres are spontaneously indicated it may I say be concluded that if this pulsation by which the houres are indicated or shewed be not caused by the motion of the hand of the person that holds the string to which the ring is fastened quod puto saith Boetius then that this motion hath its perfection from the power and help of the devil Gemms and pretious stones are onely naturall causes of their effects and for this cause the effects of them can be onely naturall and such as are alwayes reall effects and never intentionall and materiall effects and seldome spirituall viz. then onely when such effects are effected by some mean or other which may more truly be determined to be a cause then the gemm it self What we have determined concerning the Turchoyse the same upon the same ground we may determine and conclude concerning those gemms which are said to work strange effects by the power of celestiall figures engraven on them for all such celestiall figures are nothing else but fictitious and imaginary things and no reall entities at all and therefore cannot be capable of any power to do any such strange effects neither have such figures or can they have any conveniencie or agreement at all with things here below for the producing of any effects in them or by them Whether the cause of this or that effect be the true cause of it or no will appear by these things Rules 1. If the cause be such as doth in no kind repugne or contradict the effect Such causes as these are all those that have in themselves the perfection of the effect either virtually or formally 2. If the cause do act within the certain limits or bounds alicujus spatii together with all such things as are necessary to produce such an effect And the effect doth upon this working of the cause without any prejudices to the contrary or interceding impediments follow in its determined time according as the cause within the determined bounds of its space is applyed to produce this or that effect sooner or later 3. If the cause applyed have alwayes the same power and force and be free from all superstition and every suspition thereof 4. If that the cause being taken away the effect notwithstanding all other things and circumstances remain doth not or cannot follow III. That we may not be mistaken in the effects of creatures it is necessary to be known How many kinds of effects from all causes may be found in the whole universe Such effects as are to be found in the world are these First Effects which are in their perfection above all the power of naturall causes For example sake 1. No naturall cause can separate the heat from the fire nor can any naturall cause make fire to burn without heat 2. It is above the power of a naturall cause to make a man invisible no naturall cause can effect this because man is an opake or an obscure body and such a body as hath no perspicuity or transparency at all in it and therefore it cannot possibly be that it should be made inconspicuous or disapparent without some present impediment Boet. Secondly Effects which do not exceed the power of naturall causes but yet are above the mean which naturall causes do use to produce such effects according to the prescript rule and order of nature Such an effect is this which followeth The Saviour of the world was born of the Virgin Mary as it is naturall for a man to be born of a woman but here the mean and manner of begetting and of conception is supernaturall and above all the power of naturall causes for here the conception and manner of begetting was altogether without the coition and congression of man which effect could be no otherwise caused then by a supernaturall power namely by the power of God who did wonderfully effect the conception and birth of Christ in the wombe of the Virgin by the power of his Holy Spirit These two first kinds of effects which have been and may be found in the world Boetius l. 1. p. 45. saith cannot possibly be brought to passe but by the power of God or of the devil God permitting Thirdly Effects which do not exceed the power of naturall causes but yet the causes applyed for the producing of these effects do not keep the ordinary mean for the producing of them Such an effect is this of Chymistry when as by chymicall art gold is made of silver And such an effect is this which is so oft practised in natures orchards and gardens where when as nature by her own work doth produce the severall species of fruits from their own proper and peculiar originalls art doth as it were force and violate her to contradict her law rule and order by insitions and inoculations and by this means we may oft times see the fruitfullest and best trees bearing fruits of other stocks then their own Fourthly Effects which do depend upon naturall causes which observe and keep the ordinary mean which are to be applyed for the producing of such and such effects Such an effect as this it is when as the rain is generated by the ascending up of vapours and when ice is dissolved into water by the power of the heat of the Sunne and when man is generated of man and woman which is natures ordinary way for generation These are the effects which are found in the world the fourth and last kind of which are purely naturall which that they may be really so they do require divers conditions Conditions to make effects truly naturall 1. That an effect may be truly naturall it is required that there should be some subject present which may receive the effect from its efficient cause 2. It is required that there should be a certain latitude or distance betwixt the efficient cause and the subject out of which the effect is to be produced beyond which distance or limit the effect cannot at all be produced this will appear by this solary example The sunne whilest it hath its residence in Tropico Australi or in the Tropick of Capricorn cannot so warm the regions and countreys that are situate about the Artick pole as it doth warm them when it hath its residence in the Tropick of Cancer 3. That an effect may be naturall it is required that the efficient cause or immediate agent be not hindred in its action upon its subject and penetration of its subject by some other interposing or intermediating body 4. It is required that there should be a full space betwixt the cause and the effect that is spatium continuum conjunctum that so naturall things may in se mutuò agere and thus obtain their perfection 5. That an effect may be naturall it is required that the medium or mean which is betwixt the cause and the subject be aptly and
Tropicks and therefore have the sunne ever neare them They may be produced in any climate but the more noble kind of gemms and pretious stones are in their excellency plentifully to be found in the Regions of the orientall Indies and that without doubt because it lyeth nearest the Tropick and so hath the sunne ever neare it illiúsque aestu fruantur sine quo è terra exhalationes quae ad gemmarum nobilium propagationem generationem copiosè requiruntur produci non possunt Boetius p. 13. The causes of Perspicuitie and Diaphanitie in them IT is the opinion of learned enquirers into the secrets of nature that the plenty of chrystall succulencies in the matter of Gemms are the onely causes of their perspicuity and diaphanitie as that without which they do suppose there can be no perspicuous or diaphanous bodies at all But Boetius is of a farre different opinion as appeareth by this which he saith l. 1. p. 21. Hi maximè falluntur quia non solùm aqua sed aer diaphanus est licèt atomis sit plenissimus that is These are much deceived for not onely the water but also the aire is diaphanous though it be full of atomes and the fire doth much excell them both in diaphanitie hence he saith copia aquae non est diaphanitatis causa sed aliud quiddam to wit the exact union of the earth resolved in minimas particulas and so plainly and exquisitely continued that the body constituted of it can by no means be discerned to have any pores or atomes in it Continuitie alone he saith is the cause of all diaphanitie and that because the sight can in no wise be terminated in it unlesse it hath some contingent accident in its averse part from the light or sunne as some shadow which so hindereth this part from being enlightened by the circumferent light that the contingent or accidentall obscuritie cannot but be perceived this may be experienced in a looking-glasse Flaws cracks or fissures in glasse or chrystalls do much hinder their perspicuitie and diaphanity whether they be internall or externall because they having every one their distinct superficies do every one of them cause a divers reflection of the light which diversitie of reflections procureth a certain kind of confusion by which the diaphanitie of the body otherwise diaphanous is hindred The Materiall cause of transparencie THe materiall cause of this transparencie in gemms is a species of salt which is a transparent terrestriall matter diluted with water which transparent salinous substance doth by its acrimony penetrate pierce cut the earth into most exquisite subtil smallest portions Thus it doth make the earth fit for diaphanitie and worketh out the water which is as it were its vehiculum and at the same time by degrees uniting it self to these exqisite portions of earth it doth grow together with them into a diaphanous gemme So Boetius Those gemms which do contain most salinous matter in them are softer and more diaphanous then other gemms as the Crystall Beryll Iris Citrinus and the like The hardest gemms have least salt in them and are lesse diaphanous as the Diamond qui plùs micat quà m transparet The cause of the colour in pretious stones AS there are divers opinions concerning the diaphanity of gemms so there are likewise concerning the tincture and colour of gemms as will appear by what followeth The colour which may be perceived in gemms is either diaphanous I mean transparent or an opake obscure and shadowed colour This doth receive in the light and not again transmit it the other doth again transmit saith Boetius or send forth the light that it doth receive in but absolute or perfect diaphanity and transparencie admitteth of no colour at all for wheresoever there is but any tincture of colour the transparencie or diaphanitie must needs be imperfect because the light seemeth to be affected and altered by the colour and therefore cannot be terminated in its own proper colour or rather perspicuity of the gemm but is terminated in some strange opake dark colour Ansel Boet. l. 1. 23. In gemms or pretious stones there is to be found a reall colour and an apparent colour The reall colour alwayes remains though the light be absent The diversitie of apparent colours do remain no longer then whilest the light is present In perfectly transparent or perspicuous gemms or stones colours have their originall from the refraction or reflection of the light which diversity of reflection in Crystalls is caused by the multiplicitie of their superficies This will appear in a triangular or an hexagonall Crystall which is absolutely diaphanous hath no colour at all in it and receiveth the light rectis lineis and doth again transmit it rectis lineis yet by reason of the refraction and reflection of the light upon the multiplicitie of superficies it doth represent to our view various colours This we find true by experience saith Boetius Licèt intellectus id non capiat therefore à sensu recedendum non est that is though we can give no reason why pure simple immixt light in a diaphanous exactly transparent body deprived of all colour and the least tincture of any colour should yet notwithstanding beget divers colours There are divers opinions concerning the originalls of the colours in gemms stones earths trees plants and flowers Some think the species salis to be the causa coloris and will have the salem armoniacum naturae which is very plentifull in mineralls metalls and in the earth to produce the various colours in plants flowers gemms and stones and in all other things Sal armoniacum naturae quid And that which they call salem armoniacum naturae est sal quoddam spirituale vivificum quod vino sublimato junctum illo priùs ascendit This is thought by some to be the primum movens in the generation of things and the conserving balsame of every thing and that which doth adorn them with the beauty of their various colours The plenty of this salt which is found in every thing and may be extracted out of every thing doth cause this opinion concerning the colours in gemms and stones Various opinions concerning the originall of colours in things Another reason which is given for this is this because it being collected and distilled doth of it self produce all kinds of colours Some are of opinion that the various exhalations are the cause of colours Others say that they are produced by the various commixtion of the elements and by their concoction Others that Colores à primis qualitatibus in materiam derivantur Others say that all colours do arise from the various commixtion of the two extreme colours that is of white and black lucis umbrae as appeareth in the iris or rainbow wherein out of light and darknesse mixt various colours do arise Boetius is of opinion that these are no causes of colours in things but that all colours are
fitly disposed to receive the vertue of the agent or efficient for else it is impossible notwithstanding the concurrency of all other things together that any naturall effects should universally follow This for the present as concerning the nature and vertues of gemms and pretious stones in generall It followeth that we should make progresse in our inquiries and discoveries of every gemme and pretious stone in particular Of the division of Gemms IN the former treatise we have spoken concerning the causes natures and effects of gemms in generall In what followeth we shall according to Anselmus Boetius shew how they are divided and how particularly distinguished according to their severall species The division which he maketh of gemms or stones is this Division of stones or gemms Stones or gemms are either 1. Small or 2. Great Small ones are either 1. Rare or 2. Common The Rare and excellent ones are either 1. Hard. or 2. Soft 1. The small hard ones are either 1. Fair. or 2. of an evil Colour The Fair ones are either 1. wholly shaddowed as the Turky stone and the Chameus or 2. partly shaddowed as the Sardonyx the Astroites the Leucosapphirus and the Opalus Again the Fair ones are transparent either 1. with Colour or 2. without Colour 1. The Fair ones transparent with Colour are the Jacinth Beryll Ruby Prassius Rubicell Chrysoprassus Spinell Granat Amandine Chrysolite Ballasse Carbuncle Saphire Emerauld Gemma Solis Almandine 2. Fair ones transparent without Colour are Diamonds The small hard stones which are rare and pretious though of an evil Colour are these the Pantarbe Brontia Umbria Dracontia Aetite Lapis palumbellus Chelidonius and the Snake-stone or Egge Secondly The pretious small rare and soft stones are either 1. Fair. or 2. of an evil Colour 1. Fair first in Colour as the Pearl Bezoar Molochite 2. In Figure as the Oculus Cati Glossopetra Umbilicus Marinus Lapis Judaicus and the Trochite Secondly The small rare and soft stones of an evil Colour are the Morochthus and the Lapis Caymaus Enorchis Lapis Cevar Lapis Manualis Lapis Renalis Lapis Porcinus Lapis Anguium Enhydros Callimus Lapis Malacensis Lapis Manatus Lapis Hystericus Lapis Tuberonum Lapis Bugolda and the Toad-stone The small common stones are either 1. Hard. or 2. Soft Hard first as the Bristol diamonds or the Pseudo-diamond of Hungary Or Soft secondly as the Lapis fellis Oculi Cancri Lapis Spongiae Lapis Limacis Lapis Carpionum and Lapis Percae The Great stones are likewise 1. either Rare Hard Fair and shaddowed or 2. Rare Hard Fair and transparent 1. Of the first kind are the Porphyrite Heliotrope Smaragdite Lapis Lazuli Agate Corall Ophyte Cornu Ammonis 2. Of the other kind are the Amethyst Topaz and the Smaragde-prassius which do all partake of tincture or colour and the Crystall and the Bohemian Diamond which are diaphanous without colour Again the rare hard stones are 1. Some of them of an evil colour as the Steatite Eneost Stalagmite Onyx Ceraunia Basaltes Smiris Dactylus Ideus Ossifragus Stalactite Lydius Lapis Nephriticus Bloud-stone Geodes Loadstone Hephestite Hysterapetra 2. Again of the great and rare stones some are 1. soft and fair 1. either in colour 2. or figure or 2. soft and evil coloured In colour first as the Specularis Alabaster Amber Lapis Armenus In figure secondly as Amites and Stellaris Those that are soft and evil coloured are the Asius Samius Ageratus Melitites Gagate Porus Schystus Thyites Amiantus Galactites Magargenteus Hematite Phrygius Calamita Alba Fungifer Again there are common great stones which are 1. either hard fair and beautifull or 2. hard and evil coloured First the hard fair and beautifull stones of magnitude are the Marble Secondly common hard evil coloured stones are the Whetstone Pyrite the common stone the Flint Soft stones of magnitude are Gypsum Pumeise Lythanthrax Talcum Scissilis This is the generall division of gemms and stones according to Boetius Now of stones in particular and of their generall species The first part of the Lapidarie Of Gemms in particular Of diaphanous and whole transparent Gemms CHAP. I. Of the Diamond Description of the stone THe true Diamond is a hard diaphanous perfectly transparent stone which doth sparkle forth its glorie much like the twinckling of a glorious starre The true Diamond is the hardest of all other stones without colour like unto pure water transparent and if it have any yellownesse or blacknesse it is a fault in it This property it hath that it will snatch colour and apply it and unite it to it self and thus will it cast forth at a great distance its lively shining rayes so that no other jewell can sparkle as it will By this excellent emission of its rayes or beams or by this generous sparkling forth of its glory do the most judicious Jewellers distinguish the true Diamond from those of bastard kinds Of its tincture or foyl THe tincture foyl or colour for a true Diamond is thus made R. pure mastick and a small quantitie of ivory burnt black and finely powdred mix it according to art then distend a small portion of it and fitly dispose of it for your foyl or tincture Of the adulteration of the Diamond A True Diamond may be adulterated or counterfeited with a Saphire or with an orientall Amethyst or with a Topaze or with a Chrysolite and by all stones that are hard and transparent and which may be deprived of colour The colour of those gemms which are fit for this use may by the heat of fire be thus taken away R. calx viva and the filings of steel bury the stone in them or in either of them then overwhelm them w th a fire at some distance frō them that the stone by degrees may grow hot then increase the fire and the colour will vanish Jewellers and judicious artists well know in what space of time by the continuance of this great heat any such excellent gemms may be deprived of all their colour which colour of the gemm so soon as they do conceive it is vanisht by the power of the heat then do they extinguish the fire by degrees till there be no more heat left And if by this first operation it be not perfectly deprived of all its colour then the same work must again be begun and carried on as before by severall degrees of heat and if need be it may be iterated ever observing this that as it must be heated by a graduall increase of the fire so likewise by a graduall decrease of the heat the fire must be extinguisht Caution for the over-sudden heating or over-sudden cooling of the stone may cause a crack in it and so rob the stone of the glory of its beautie and value and the artist of his hopes by frustrating him of his endeavours Anselmus Boetius saith that he saw a Topaz in this manner changed which is better then an other stone for this purpose because of its hardnesse and
A LAPIDARY OR THE HISTORY OF PRETIOUS STONES With cautions for the undeceiving of all those that deal with Pretious Stones By THOMAS NICOLS sometimes of Jesus-Colledge in CAMBRIDGE Inest sua gratia parvis CAMBRIDGE Printed by THOMAS BUCK Printer to the Universitie of Cambridge 1652 To the Right Worshipfull the Heads of the Vniversitie of CAMBRIDGE Right Worshipfull EVery thing according to its perfection is valuable and the more glorious the more estimable It is not the greatnesse of any thing that ought to purchase it esteem nor must the smalnesse or littlenesse of a vertuous created substance decrease its worth But great things as joyned with the glorie of their perfection are so and no otherwise of great and high esteem and little things are no otherwise valuable then according to the glorious beauty of their perfection Here Right Worshipfull I present you with things great and small but with none without their vertues They are created substances of the most enduring nature which this our part of the subcelestiall world doth contain The glory of those which shall here find beautified with externall grace will feed your eyes with much pleasure in beholding and their internall vertues and the symboles whereby by them are discovered to us the glorious excellency of super-celestiall things will in the right consideration of them no lesse feed your spirit with delight then doth their externall beautie and perfection please your eye when it doth behold their glory Every one out of their common apprehensions of worth and out of that mean perception which they have of things dignified above others with beauty and with glory esteem them valuable Gemms and Jewells are thus dignified with externall glory and enricht with internall symbolical vertues For this cause with those that have but mean and common apprehensions of their worth they are esteemed And for their symbolical resemblances of super-celestiall things amongst the wisest of ancient times they have had upon them an high estimate of value and of worth Surely we live not in the most unknowing times of the world nay never was this part of the world fuller of knowledge then now it is wherein many are blest with excellent gifts and endowments by which they are enabled to enquire more throughly into the nature and causes of things then ever Amongst these who know the true nature of things surely nor gemms nor jewells nor any other vertuous thing shall want their due esteem Nor with you Right Worshipfull I am sure can that which is truly vertuous want its value It is a Philosophick axiome Inest sua gratia parvis I have here taken the pains to open the small cabinets of this excellencie that I may discover the true vertues which are contained in many smal things and little creatures This I have done first by a search and diligent enquiry into the causes and natures of Gemms and into such qualities as may possibly from thence in them arise Then by partly acquainting Anselmus Boetius with the English tongue In the doing of which I have endeavoured according to what I find in Scripture and according to what I find in other Authours to take away that confusion about the species of gemms which doth cause them to be hardly and difficultly known of what species and kinds they are And withall I have not onely laboured with Boetius but also with divers other Lapidists to shew the true way of discerning factitious and artificiall stones or gemms from those that are really and truly the works of nature that so the fallacies and sophistications of Artists being clearly and perspicuously manifested and discovered nature may not be belied in the glory of her own naturall workings and actions This is the summe of that pains which I have here taken which together with my whole endeavours in this kind Right Worshipfull with generall good intentions I dedicate to you that under your protection it may in the light detect falshood and discover truth to many Your Worships humble servant THO. NICOLS To the courteous Reader COURTEOUS READER THat that may be thy profit and pleasure I present thee with though it hath been my labour and pains I acknowledge it as mine it is not a labour worthy thy commendations Neverthelesse as thou reapest profit by it or conceivest pleasure in it so commend the pains of him that hath here laboured and this labour of his painfull endeavours to thy friends Farewell T. N. The Contents of the Lapidary or Book of cautions In the generall Treatise are 1. The generall definition of Stones 2. Generall division 3. Manner of their generation 4. Originall of Gemms according to Hermes and Plato 5. The places of their births in generall 6. The causes of perspicuity and diaphanitie 7. The materiall cause of Transparency 8. Cause of the colour in stones 9. The cause of hardnesse 10. Cause of the ponderousnesse of them 11. Of the adulteration and the way of its discovery 12. The way of making pretious stones in their enclosures appeare fairer and larger then they truly are 13. The use of foyls tinctures and bracteae 14. To help the softnesse of Gemms 15. To colour Crystall that it may resemble gemms with colour 16. The manner of taking away the colours of gemms naturally coloured 17. Artificiall stones the matter of them 18. The way of polishing and engraving pretious stones 19. The faculties of gemms and pretious stones 20. Effects attributed to pretious stones which their natures are not capable of effecting 21. Langius his opinion concerning the generation of gemms and pretious stones 22. Supernaturall effects of stones improperly so called 23. The causes of all effects 24. Rules to discern them 25. Conditions to make effects truly naturall In the Book of Particulars are contained these things 1. The description of the stone in the front of every Chapter 2. The tinctures foyls and Bracteae by which naturall gemms and pretious stones that are either diaphanous or throughly transparent are helpt in their glory and set out in their lustre 3. The adulterations of pretious stones and gemms 4. The names of them by which they are diversly known in severall countreys by severall Nations 5. The species of every gemme and pretious stone accordingly as divers Authours do render the discovery of them that they may be known 6. The places of the births of every kind and species of gemme and pretious stone 7. The dignities and value of every pretious stone and gemme according to divers Authours 8. The properties of pretious stones and gemms 9. The Physick uses of them according as divers Authours have delivered them in their severall writings An Admonition or Advertisement to the Reader Reader IF thou wouldest be free from many superstitions in the use of pretious stones and undeceive thy self as concerning the strange vertues powers and faculties which by divers Authours in the end of every Chapter they are reported and related to be endued withall though contrary to what their
candidus or the white Saphire These are many times substituted for Diamonds and they are called the female Saphires the other the male That stone which Pliny doth in some place call the Saphire is the Cyanus or Lapis Lazuli The places They are found in Calecut Cananor and in the kingdome of Bisnager in Zeilan in the kingdome of Pegu and in the Eastern Countreys there are also of these stones found in the Western Countreys as in Bohemia and very good ones in Silesia in these parts there are of these stones found very transparent but soft of a milkish colour mixt with a blew and they are called Leucosaphirus these are subject to many harms The best are so hard that they cannot be filed the colour of these Saphires may so be taken away as that they may be converted into a very excellent Diamond Of its faculties and properties The Saphire is of a cold and drie faculty even as are most pretious stones it is reported of it that it is good against feverish distempers hence this old distick Corporis ardorem refrigerat interiorem Sapphirus Cypriae languida vota facit The best of these are very comfortable to the eyes if they be often looked one It is reported of it that if it be worn by an adulterer by loosing its splendour it will discover his adultery and that the wearing of it doth hinder the erections that are caused by Venus But surely as either lustfull thoughts or this wicked spirit Asmodeus moving them or stirring up such disorders and irregularities without them in the body are the causes of such undue erections of the flesh so when he withdraweth himself this stone hath power to hinder them and not before Many have written of the faculties of this stone as Galen Dioscorides Cardanus Garcias and Macer the Poet lib. 5. c. 5. It is reported of it that it is of so contrary a nature to poysons that if it be put into a glasse with a Spider or laid upon the mouth of the glasse where the Spider is the Spider will quickly die And that it keepeth men chaste and therefore is worn of Priests Anselmus Boetius saith that S. Jerome affirmeth in his exposition of the 19. chap. of Isaiah that the Saphire being worn of any man procureth him favour with Princes and with all men pacifieth his enemies freeth him from inchantments and from bonds and imprisonments and that it looseth men out of prison and asswageth the wrath of God Anselmus Boetius p. 49. Of its dignity and value For its sacred use it hath been esteemed of great worth as Exod. 28.18 And for its superstitions take this caution use it with much circumspection Amongst the Ancients and with the Heathen this gemm hath been of very great authority because they thought it did not a little prevail with God * Andr. Bacc. cap. 7. de gem nat The Gentiles consecrated this gemm to Apollo because in their enquiries at his oracle Vide Andrae Bacc. c. 7. de Nat. Gem. if they had the presence of this gemm with them they imagined they had their answer the sooner It is desired of many for its excellent beauty for it is fair like unto a serene skie No better a description of its excellent beauty can you find then that which is given of it Exodus 24.9 10. Where it is spoken after the manner of men not as if the children of Israel saw any appearance of God in the form of man That the children of Israel saw the God of Israel and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of Saphire stone and as it were the body of heaven in its clearnesse This stone is valued according to the excellency of its colour beauty purity and greatnesse one of the weight of four grains is worth many crowns The best of these are as much worth as a Diamond of the same bignesse CHAP. XI Of the Opalus Description of the stone THe Opalus is a pretious stone which hath in it the bright fiery flame of a Carbuncle the pure refulgent purple of an Amethyst and a whole sea of the Emeraulds spring glory or virescency and every one of them shining with an incredible mixture and very much pleasure so that this cannot easily be counterfeited or adulterated as other jewels may Boetius saith of it that it is the fairest and most pleasing of all other jewels by reason of its various colours Cardanus saith that he bought one for 15 crowns Cardan de Subt. l. 7. that he took as much pleasure in as he could do in a Diamond of 500 aureos In many of these stones do appear Skie-colour Purple Green Yellow Red and sometimes a Black and White or Milkish colour but we must not think that all these colours are severally in the jewell for break but the Opalus and all the variety of colours do perish by which it doth appear that the variety of colours in the Opalus ariseth from the reflection of one or more colours as sometimes is seen in the Rain-bow and may be experienced in a triangular Crystall where the alone reflection of the light upon the angles or corners of the Crystall do in the Crystall produce various colours which otherwise is diaphanous perfectly transparent clear and without colour Of its foyl or tincture Though the gemm be a transparent gemm yet there can be no foyl for the setting of it off for the variety of colours in the foyl would cause a confusion in the various colours of the Opalus Of its adulteration Though a foyl can hardly be usefull in the setting off of the true jewell yet by other stones it cannot be counterfeited imitated or adulterated but by the help of a foyl Impostours can adulterate it with a double glasse tinctured or coloured or with a convenient tinctured foyl betwixt them or with two Crystals or other diaphanous stones joyned together with a convenient foyl Baptista Porta saith that if the Calx of tinne be cast into molten Crystall glasse it will cloud it and colour it like an Opalus Quercitanus saith that the spirit of Nitrum will colour a glasse alembick with variety of colours like unto an Opalus as appeareth by his book called Priscorum Philosophorum vera medicina Of its names It is known of jewellers that are most expert by the name of Opalus In English it is so called The Italians call it Girasole and Scambaia The kinds of it There are four kinds of it The first kind of it doth imitate red green skie-colour and purple and sometimes purple with a yellow colour and these are the best of all other These are known by their Carbuncle flame by their Amethyst splendour and by their Emerauld viridity all shining together with an incredible mixture and by their admirable and wonderfull ponderosity for this is a gemm that though it be seldome found bigger for magnitude then a bean and for the most part of lesse bignesse yet its weight will
stone is roundish in shape like unto an olive of colour white and sometimes brownish and is easily broken Aetius calleth it Lapis Syriacus others Phrenicites Plinie for its fragilitie calleth it Tecolithos It is found in India and in Silesia It is esteemed good against the stone in the bladder and reins Boetius and Dioscorides CHAP. LXII Of the Morochthus THe Morochthus is a white soft stone It is good to make linen garments white withall if it be first dissolved It is said to be endued with a power of opening the pores of the body Dioscorides saith it is found in Egypt and Georg. Agricola saith it is found in Saxony neare Heldeshim where it is called Milchstein The Galactite is a kind of it which is also called Galaxius this is found in Egypt The linen drapers with this stone do use to make their cloth white CHAP. LXIII Of the Magnes or Load-stone Description of the stone THe Magnes or Loadstone is a stone of a brownish colour with a tendencie to a sky-colour thick and not very heavy which as saith Rulandus doth by its own proper power and innate vertue draw iron unto its self Boetius and Dioscorides say that this which is brownish with a tendencie to a sky-colour is the best But Mart. Rulandus saith that the best is alwayes of a sky-colour It s adulteration There is no fear of the adulterating of this stone if naturally it be endued with such power vertue and attractive faculties as Authours relate and write of it for though it is not altogether impossible to make by art a Loadstone in colour form and substance yet is it altogether impossible for any man to adde such power vertue and attraction to it as naturally the true Loadstone is said to be endued withall Though I confesse an Impostour may delude an unwary buyer of this stone by an acquired attractive faculty scilicet mediante daemonis pro tempore potestate Its names In Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Latine Galen Nicander and Plinie call it Magnes which name by the two last named Authours is attributed to it from him who was the first finder of its attractive power namely Magnes a shepherd of India who was wont to keep his flocks about those mountains in India where there were abundance of these stones Herculeus lapis it is also called from its predominant power by which it is said to draw iron to it self which tameth all things Heracleus lapis it is also called from a citie of Lydia called Heraclea by some and by others Magnesia where the best of these stones are said to be found hence this stone as some think had its name of Magnes and hence these verses of Lucretius Quem Magneta vocant patrio de nomine Graii Magnetum quia sit patriis in montibus ortus Callimachus calleth it Heracleotis Plinie Siderites In Germane Magneth In Saxon ein Segelstein and in Italian Calamita Piodra It is from its use called Lapis Nauticus In English the Load-stone The kinds of it Albertus Magnus l. 2. Metal tract 3. c. 6. saith that in that age in which Aristotle lived there were two kinds of Load-stones known one kind which did direct or draw iron to the North another kind which did direct or draw iron to the South Plinie L. C. Plin. lib. 36. cap. 16. speaketh of five kinds of this stone 1. Magnes Aethiopicus which hath power not onely of drawing iron to it self but also of an other Load-stone hence these verses of Silius Venere Aethiopes gens haud incognita Nilo Qui Magneta secant solis honor ille metalli Incoctum chalybem vicino ducere saxo 2. The second kind is called Magnesiacus it is in colour of a yellowish red and black 3. The third is called Echius and it is more of a yellowish red then black 4. The fourth kind is a feminine Load-stone it is black and of no use 5. The fifth kind is a white one of very little moment Cardanus l. de lap maketh three kinds of this stone 1. Ferrugineus which is so called as being of an iron colour 2. Candidus 3. Candidus distinguisht with light ferrugineous veins The places It is found in Aethiopia Macedonia Boeotia Alexandria Troas In Heraclea Lydiae in Germany in Misnia in Italie in the mountains of Viterbium in many iron mines and the places neare adjoyning It s nature and faculties The wisdome of man which hath much searcht and enquired into the nature of this stone hath attributed its attractive power to the planets and to the influences of the starres and saith that it doth receive its vertue from Luna and Venus which are both found shining in Cauda Ursae minoris in gradu 29. Virginis Vide Andr. Bacc. cap. 2. de nat Gemm The cause of the attractive facultie of this stone is as Authours say that it may provide it self with a pabulum or fit nourishment of its substance Card. lib. 7. de lap for this cause saith Cardane it doth draw iron to it self for stones live and have need of nourishment for their augmentation and conservation The cause of such mutuall embraces Boetius also doth attribute to their likenes of nature by reason of which they are pleased to be assimilated into one substance and likenesse therefore doth Boetius say of the Loadstone that it doth draw the iron as sibi simile or for its conservatiō or nourishment for if you cover over the Load-stone with filings of iron the Load-stone will grow more lively as receiving a nourishment from such filings and the residue of the filings will be changed into rust Martinus Rulandus saith that as by a naturall power and force it doth draw iron and liquor of glasse and concord with these so likewise by an antipathy and discord it doth mainly disagree with onions and garlick and with a Diamond insomuch as if these be but within the touch of a Load-stone or neare the Load-stone they will hinder all its attractive power and rob it of all its vertue of drawing iron Renodeus l. de mat Medic. asserteth the same Albertus Magnus saith there is a Load-stone to be found which with one point draweth iron and with another point doth drive it away History The same Albertus saith That the Emperour Frederick had a Load-stone which did not draw iron but was drawn of iron even as a common Load-stone doth draw iron Serapion saith l. aggreg c. Hagger Abnantes sive Almagritos esse mineram or that there is a minerall of this kind in the maritime parts that lie neare India of so great a quantitie as that they are forc'd to use by reason of it no other nails in the building of their ships but wooden nayls It is wonderfull to see how the Needle of a Compasse being toucht with a Load-stone doth cause the maritime Card to point North and South And it is not more wonderfull to behold this then it is difficult to raise a satisfactorie reason
from the nature of the thing concerning it Observation Merchants and Mariners in their passages under the line have observed that on this side the line the Card doth alwayes point out the North but when they are once past the Equinoctiall line and are come nearer to the Antarctick pole they say it forsaketh the North and pointeth out onely the South Reason and that for this reason because say they it doth not then so much shew the Plagae or climates as the Pole and alwayes that Pole which is nearest to it The cause of this strange variation of the Sea-card in the passage under the line is supposed to arise from a Magnetick mountain which in whatsoever place it is it is observed by the Sea-card See Boet. cap. de Magnet Upon these grounds and reasons it is to be supposed that there is another Magnetick mountain towards the Antarctick Pole directly opposite to that which is towards the Arctick Pole which doth convey its attractive vertue at so great a distance to such or such a ship on the other * That is in respect of us that live in these Northern climates side the line to the wonderfull affecting of its Needle and strange variation and alteration of its Card insomuch as now it pointeth full South whereas before it pointed full North. And that the vertue of this Magnetick mountain should at so great a distance be transferred from it self in the utmost extremities of the Antarctick Pole to the Needle of the Card of that ship which is now very neare the Equinoctiall line is more wonderfull then the sudden variation of the Card. It s vertue and use The Load-stone calcined is said to be of like nature with the Hematite Galen and Dioscorides say it hath the same vertues It is said of this stone that it is good against the head-ach convulsions and poysons and that it causeth easie delivery and procureth love betwixt man and wife and preserveth peace and concord amongst friends and that it driveth away fears and increaseth wisdome Cardanus l. 7. de lap saith that Aristotle that great inquirer into nature was altogether unknowing of the maritime use of this stone and of that use which is made of the sea-card by vertue of this stone and that Galen and Alexander Aphrodisius two great inquirers into the secrets of nature have not so much as once made mention of the wonderfull nature of this stone The maritime use of it was also unkown to the Romanes and that was the reason saith Cardane that they suffered so many shipwracks It is reported of Mahomet History that the iron tombe in which he was embalmed was by the attractive vertue of a great Load-stone drawn up from the earth and continued in that wonderfull posture for many years together See Herberts Travels CHAP. LXIIII. Of the Belemnites or Lapis Lincis or Dactylus Ideus Description of the stone THis stone is in length a finger in form and thicknesse like the end of an arrow outwardly for the most part of a brown and duskish colour inwardly it is hollow sometimes full of a medullous substance like the pith of wood sometimes this cavity is full of a chalky substance sometimes of sand From the medulla or substance in this cavity which is the centre of this stone if you break the stone you shall perceive small lines like beams to dart themselves forth unto the circumference It is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from its form of an arrow Of its kinds Of these stones there are some externally of a white colour some of a duskish colour and some pellucid like Amber in colour If you take some of them and put them into the fire they will smell like burned bones or horns and sometimes like Cats pisse the white ones which are found in Heildshem with a black hard stone in them smell like Amber Cardanus calleth this stone Belemnites and saith it is found in form like an arrow and hath in the whole length of it a fissure or cavity which containeth in it a stone joyned with a golden armature to the stone containing it See Card. l. 7. de subtil and that this stone is not as some think the Lyncurius The place It is found in Borussia and in Pomerania in many places of Germany and England It is found in mount Ida and from thence it hath its name of Dactylus Ideus It is found in very great plenty about Wittenberg Its vertues It is reported of it that if its powder be drunk in some convenient liquour it will prohibit lustfull dreams and witchcrafts The Saxon and Spanish Physicians take it to be of the same nature with the lapis Judaicus and therefore they use it to break the stone withall In officinis this stone is commonly taken for lapis Lyncurius See Matthiolus CHAP. LXV Of the Ceraunia Description of the stone THe Ceraunia saith Boetius is a stone which usually is found five fingers long and three fingers broad like a wedge it is of colour like the Belemnites but it is not striatus it hath no such lines as the Belemnites have If these stones be great they have usually round holes in them about the bignesse of a mans thumbe as there are saith Boetius in a mallet Of its names It hath its name Ceraunia from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth fulmen or lightning and this name it hath because it is supposed to fall from heaven with the lightening In Germane it is called Straalhamer Donerstein Schlegel Donnerkeil Stralpfeil Stral stein and Gros-krottenstein In Italian Sagetta Its kinds These stones are smooth stones they are sometimes found round and sometimes long sometimes in the forms of a wedge dish mallet or plow-share or of an ax and in divers other forms Of these Some are white and pellucid Some brown Some black Some reddish It is reported of this stone that it doth secure those that wear it and their houses from lightning and procures rest sleep and that it maketh men prevalent over their enemies and conquerours in warres See Boetius C. de Ceraunia CHAP. LXVI Of the Chelonitis Brontia and Ombria Description of the stone THe Chelonitis is a stone of a yellowish colour which is supposed to fall with thunder from heaven and sometimes with tempests and sometimes with rain in the form sometimes of a wheel sometimes in a hemi-spherick form or a semi-globous form and sometimes long in the bignesse sometimes of an egg more often lesse Its names The Chelonitis is by Pliny described to be a pretious stone in colour like to a Tortoise shell the lapis Bufonius and some of these stones are of that colour This stone is called Brontia from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Tonitrus in Latine and in English Thunder and thus it is called because it is supposed sometimes to fall with the thunder It is called Ombria from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉